RX 5700 XT in a pc that is just not good enough anymore.

[OGLT]

Budget (including currency): As affordable as possible please.

Country: Canada

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: This is to be a gaming rig.

Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): 

For now I am hoping I could use the Antec Earthwatts 650 watt (possibly is 750 watts) PSU and one of my hard drives for the new build.  Possibly may also need to use the HAF 912 case I have. 

My current pc has an i5 2500k which finally in 2019 to 2020 really is at the end of the line if you want to play new games.  I had 2 that said my pc met minimum requirements and ran bad or would not run at all.

I want to play 4K and my display is locked to 60 Hz.

I am usually an Intel guy and wanted to go the i5 9600K (9th gen) route and wishing I knew someone I could ask to borrow an older cpu so I could update the BIOS of an older board but not going to happen.  So picking out an affordable board is much tougher.  In regards to AMD I would rather go that route but when you see an Intel cpu that can boost to 4.6 GHz for the cheap price it is at it is hard to think about AMD.  In regards to an upgrade path while that is something to celebrate with AMD the thing is I had the i5 2500k pretty much since it launched so I am not one to upgrade cpus.  Honestly I think the prices are insane now and so I came here to ask for help after trying time and time again over the last month to pull the trigger on something and not being able to do so.  Btw in regards to ram I just want the cheapest, reliable ram and as for RGB with it or a motherboard I really don't care about it.  Now I have seen boards where I thought I was going to buy them and unbelievably a few did not have HDMI.  I will not be doing display port for now so need a motherboard with HDMI.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Streetguru]

13 minutes ago, OGLT said:

 

Clock speed between intel/AMD can't be compared, same for inter generational clock speeds

Your i5 isn't the worst thing ever for 60hz gaming, you can try to hold onto it until Ryzen 4000 in Q4 for an even better jump than an R5 3600

 

what's your current GPU? And what current actual budget?





 

[OGLT]

Just now, Streetguru said:

Clock speed between intel/AMD can't be compared, same for inter generational clock speeds

Your i5 isn't the worst thing ever for 60hz gaming, you can try to hold onto it until Ryzen 4000 in Q4 for an even better jump than an R5 3600

 

what's your current GPU? And what current actual budget?





 

Eh I guess I should have put it in the body of the post but it was in the title.  I have an RX 5700 XT for a video card.  As for holding out for anything in Q4 I can't do that.  I want something that will be good to game at 4K with this video card now.  Paid good money for it and so don't want to see it held back by an inferior cpu.   Finally as for budget by not really saying much about that and saying I was considering using parts I already have I want to keep it as cheap as possible.  Basically what I need right now is a cpu, motherboard and ram suggestion. Btw the mention of the R5 3600 had me also looking at the R5 2600 and it is like $60 cheaper.  Finally about my i5 2500k not being the worst thing ever it is clearly dying from what I can tell it can't hold a stable 4.3 or 4.5 GHz overclock anymore and struggles even set at 4 GHz so I have leave it to boost to 3.7 GHz. I want to move on from it.   

[Streetguru]

18 minutes ago, OGLT said:

 

If you are willing to sell the 2600 when Ryzen 4000 comes out to upgrade, then buy an MSI board with USB bios flashing like this one for safer bios flashing(assuming it has 4000 support)

If you plan to hold onto whatever CPU you buy. then spend the extra on the R5 3600 as it's like 15% faster than the last generation(ryzen 4000 is maybe a similar jump), still want the MSI board with USB bios flashing in that case, just as a back up if the bios isn't 3000 ready. The 3300X may also be a bit faster than the 2600 in games and supports up to 3600mhz RAM overclocks, but may require the more expensive board.

 

If you just want to keep the 2600, then any B450 board with a VRM heatsink will be fine and decently cheaper.

Motherboards are pretty expensive right now still, and you don't really want the cheapest RAM, that one happens to be optimized for Ryzen, whatever that means.
 

PCPartPicker Part List: https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/4WpXyk

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($195.75 @ shopRBC)
Motherboard: MSI B450-A PRO MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($168.50 @ Vuugo)
Memory: G.Skill Flare X 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($91.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Total: $456.24
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-07-04 23:26 EDT-0400

 

[Chris Pratt]

A 3600 will boost to 4.2 and the 3300x will get 4.3. the 3300X is a stupidly decent chip for the price, but can be hard to find. In either case 300-400Mhz is not insignificant, but you're not likely to notice a difference unless the game is heavily CPU bound. Pushing 4K, you're going to be GPU bound most of the time.

 

AM4 is at the end of it's life, so you're going to be mostly stuck upgrade-wise with either Intel or AMD at this point. You can at least do one more gen with AM4 than buying an 1151 socket with a 9th gen, but if you aren't planning to upgrade for a while, as you said, that's not really relevant.

 

 

[OGLT]

1 hour ago, Streetguru said:

MSI B450-A PRO MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($168.50 @ Vuugo)

I have had so much good luck with Gigabyte motherboards over the years that I really would prefer to stick with them.  Any recommendations that are Gigabyte?  Also to be honest I am more comfortable with Asus too.  Heck I remember Asus also wanting to buy back ASRock so I am interested in their boards too.  I am really just not one that is comfortable with MSI and motherboards.  Is it something I just need to shake?  Finally this Vuugo store .. I never heard of them and I think on the site it said they have been in business for 15 years.  How much have you bought from them? 

[Streetguru]

16 minutes ago, OGLT said:

I have had so much good luck with Gigabyte motherboards over the years that I really would prefer to stick with them.  Any recommendations that are Gigabyte?  Also

MSI is the only one who makes B450 boards with USB bios flashing, very useful feature to have on AM4

not canadian.

 

[Nena Trinity]

Something like this? But replace as much as possible with the parts you can recycle?

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/RYWkQq

 

Component		Selection		Base	Promo	Shipping	Tax	Price	Where
CPU			AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor	$172.99		FREE		$172.99

Motherboard			Gigabyte B550 GAMING X ATX AM4 Motherboard	$139.99		FREE		$139.99
Memory			G.Skill Aegis 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory	$61.99		FREE		$61.99
Storage			Team GX1 480 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$48.99				$48.99
Storage			Seagate Barracuda Compute 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	$53.99		FREE		$53.99
Video Card			ASRock Radeon RX 5700 XT 8 GB CHALLENGER D OC Video Card	$379.99	-$20.00 1	FREE		$359.99
Case			Thermaltake V200 RGB ATX Mid Tower Case	$71.31				$71.31
Power Supply			EVGA GD (2019) 700 W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply	$99.99		FREE		$99.99

Base Total:								$1029.24
Mail-in Rebates:								-$20.00
Total:								$1009.24

[OGLT]

50 minutes ago, Nena Trinity said:

Something like this? But replace as much as possible with the parts you can recycle?

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/RYWkQq

 

Component		Selection		Base	Promo	Shipping	Tax	Price	Where
CPU			AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor	$172.99		FREE		$172.99

Motherboard			Gigabyte B550 GAMING X ATX AM4 Motherboard	$139.99		FREE		$139.99
Memory			G.Skill Aegis 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory	$61.99		FREE		$61.99
Storage			Team GX1 480 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$48.99				$48.99
Storage			Seagate Barracuda Compute 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	$53.99		FREE		$53.99
Video Card			ASRock Radeon RX 5700 XT 8 GB CHALLENGER D OC Video Card	$379.99	-$20.00 1	FREE		$359.99
Case			Thermaltake V200 RGB ATX Mid Tower Case	$71.31				$71.31
Power Supply			EVGA GD (2019) 700 W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply	$99.99		FREE		$99.99

Base Total:								$1029.24
Mail-in Rebates:								-$20.00
Total:								$1009.24

Those U.S. prices are so sweet.  Unfortunately I am in Canada.  : S 

One thing you said though that I will do is recycle as many parts as possible as I can always find used or on the cheap in the future to put the old i5 2500k back together.

[OGLT]

What is the performance boost I would be getting with an AMD Ryzen 5 2600 over an i5 2500k?

[Aereldor]

Wait for new parts if you can. If not - 

Ryzen 3 3300x, RX 5700 xt, B450/B550 motherboard. Fastest DDR4 you can get without overpaying, usually 3200mhz.

Reuse your case, PSU, and SSD.

Should only be about $800 CAD, and significantly faster. 

[OGLT]

2 hours ago, Aereldor said:

Wait for new parts if you can. If not - 

Ryzen 3 3300x, RX 5700 xt, B450/B550 motherboard. Fastest DDR4 you can get without overpaying, usually 3200mhz.

Reuse your case, PSU, and SSD.

Should only be about $800 CAD, and significantly faster. 

I looked up the Ryzen 3 3300x and finding it available is near impossible.  Thanks for your help here.

[OGLT]

On 7/4/2020 at 10:49 PM, OGLT said:

I am usually an Intel guy and wanted to go the i5 9600K (9th gen) route and wishing I knew someone I could ask to borrow an older cpu so I could update the BIOS of an older board but not going to happen.  So picking out an affordable board is much tougher.  In regards to AMD I would rather go that route but when you see an Intel cpu that can boost to 4.6 GHz for the cheap price it is at it is hard to think about AMD.  In regards to an upgrade path while that is something to celebrate with AMD the thing is I had the i5 2500k pretty much since it launched so I am not one to upgrade cpus.  Honestly I think the prices are insane now and so I came here to ask for help after trying time and time again over the last month to pull the trigger on something and not being able to do so.  Btw in regards to ram I just want the cheapest, reliable ram and as for RGB with it or a motherboard I really don't care about it.  Now I have seen boards where I thought I was going to buy them and unbelievably a few did not have HDMI.  I will not be doing display port for now so need a motherboard with HDMI.

Thanks for your help.

 

What I can understand is why there isn't a heavy backing for me to get the super fast i5 9600K?  What is up with that?

https://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/intel_core_i5_9600k_processor_review,24.html

This article here totally points to it as being something to pair with a high end gpu for gaming.  

Also don't think I shared this but I will not be overclocking anything at this time as it seems there would be no need to do so with the i5 9600K or the RX 5700 XT.  With the cpu I can always get some sort of AIO water cooling solution later on.  I just am finding it hard to buy AMD when my experience with the video card has been a headache and well performance wise it is not supposed to touch this Intel solution.